Satya Robyn leads a guided Pure Land Buddhist practice session for beginners. The group does silent sitting, chants Amitabha, recites refuges and precepts, and does prostrations while learning to cultivate a pure and clear mind.
Chapters
Okay, reboot. So I wanted to talk to you this evening about a quote from this book, which was quite expensive actually, it's one of those out of print, difficult to get ones. An Australian called Harold Stewart, who knows Japan very well and writes about the form of Buddhism that we practice here at Bright Earth Temple, which is called Pure Land Buddhism. The idea in Pure Land Buddhism is that as foolish beings of wayward passion who experience things like apprehension, and jealousy, and greed, and despair, and depression, and all the rest, the greatest hope that we have for for receiving help, for receiving grace, receiving blessings, is to connect with Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of infinite light. And in connecting to that Buddha, we allow the love to soak into us. So it's not about us trying really hard to get something, it's about us acknowledging that we aren't managing to get what we want to, or where we want to go, and a kind of a surrender and an opening up to the grace of the Buddhas. The pure land is the realm of influence around a Buddha. If you think of a person you know who you particularly admire, they might be kind-hearted, or wise, or full of faith, You'll know that when you meet them, a little bit of their spirit just kind of rubs off on you. You might also know that the space that they inhabit, they maybe take care of it in a certain way, so their houses might feel nice, or their gardens. So if that's the case for good people, then the idea is that a Buddha, who is the personification of compassion and wisdom, will have a sphere of influence around them that is beautiful and cared for and enlightening.
What are they doing?
Hopefully you can't hear. So the quote that I wanted to read you is from the Surangama Sutra, which is a Mahayana sutra. As your mind becomes pure and clear, Its uttermost purification causes you to see suddenly the great earth, mountains, and rivers in the 10 directions change into the Buddha's pure land adorned with all kinds of precious gems whose radiance is all-pervading. So what I really like about this quote is that it's suggesting that rather than the Pure Land being just the space around the Buddha, which we arrive at after our death, that if we have a clear mind, then we can actually see the Pure Land immediately around us, that suddenly the surroundings take on this kind of luminosity.. There's a lot of talk in the Pure Land sutras about the Pure Land having lots of gems in it, so there's a big long description of the trees in the Pure Land as having copper leaves, silver leaves, and then there's these kinds of gems, lots and lots of different gems, which can to me sometimes sound a bit gaudy, and a bit, you know, doesn't sound beautiful, but what it's really wanting to conjure is that sense of like dew that glistens in the morning light, or that kind of clarity, that brilliance. It says in the quote that if our mind becomes pure and clear, then we're able to see the Pure Land in 10 directions. Then the question is, how do we get a pure and clean mind, pure and clear mind? So there's a couple of answers to that. One is that we gather, as we are doing this evening, and as we sit— we'll be sitting silently in a minute and then we'll do some chanting together— we can just imagine all the detritus in our brains just gradually settling and settling and settling, as it would the old kind of jar of muddy water. Analogy that the pieces settle and clarity emerges. The way that Pure Land Buddhists would encourage us to reach that place of being able to see a Pure Land is by relying on the grace of the Buddha, so not trying to do that ourselves, but opening ourselves and asking for help and allowing that love and help to come in. The third way that I'll mention in this Pit Stop tour is that even when we don't feel that we have pure, clear minds, even when we can't see any beauty around us, even when we just look out the window and it looks dull and horrible and we're in lockdown and everything feels awful, we just remember that the Buddha is there and that we remember the glimpses that we may have had of something luminous. It might even just be a nanosecond of opening and having received something, and we just trust that the Buddha is still there, like the sun behind the clouds, that the Buddha hasn't abandoned us, we've just got stuff in the way. So we will sit quietly together now, and as we sit, you might want to Just imagine anything that kind of emerges, any thoughts or feelings or sensations, just let them be there and allow them to gradually settle. They might float away or they might settle down. You'll probably pick them up again, some of them, and then there'll be another thought and another thought and another one, and that's okay. Just allow that to happen and then and then allow the whole thing to just gently float away. And after a little while, I will start chanting the word Amitabha, which is the Buddha that we're in relationship with, the Buddha of infinite light. And the words of the chant are Amitabha. So just join in once you've roughly got the tune, and unfortunately we'll have to keep you muted I'd love to hear your beautiful voices, but the technology means that we just wouldn't be in sync and it all gets very confusing. But we can know that we're all chanting together across the country.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Um, mi taba.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabh.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Hami taba. Hami taba. Hami taba.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
So we finally managed to train at least one of our dogs.
So that's progress.
You just have to stick at it sometimes. Meditation has its effect eventually. So we'll now repeat the refuges and precepts. So I will say a line and you will repeat it after me. The refuges is where we really try to lean into the things that are reliable and permanent rather than all the things we usually lean into like cake or I can always think of cake, I can't think of other refuges, that says something about me. Money, fame, popularity.
Cake.
Cake. And the precepts are the things that we aspire to head towards in terms of our conduct, but as Pure Land Buddhists we also acknowledge it's not always easy. And then we have the Bodhisattva vows, which is a way of vowing to try and help as many people as we can, do as many good things as we can. And then we'll do prostrations, and then that's the end.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
For refuge, I go to the Buddha.
For refuge, I go to the Buddha.
Namo Buddha-ya.
Namo Buddha-ya.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
Namo Dharmaya.
Namo Dharmaya.
For refuge I go to the Sangha.
For refuge I go to the Sangha. Namo Sanghaya.
With faith in the Three Jewels—
with faith in the Three Jewels—
I pray that I may not take life.
I pray that I may not take life. I pray that I may not steal.
With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication.
I pray that I may avoid intoxication. Innumerable are sentient beings.
We vow to save them all.
Inexhaustible are deluded passions.
We vow to transform them all.
Innumerable are the Dharma teachings.
We vow to master them all.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to fulfill it completely.
So now we will do prostrations. If you are able to bow to the ground, then do. It feels quite nice to lie there for a moment. If not, then you can just do prostrations in your head, and that will work just as well. And the chant that we use, the words are Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Na mo ami dabu.
Na mo ami dabu. Na mo ami dabu.
Namoh Amida—
Namoh Amida Butsu.
Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu.
Namor, Peter, Namor, Namor, Namor, Namor, Namor, Namor, Namor. Every time I got to the ground, Ralph licked my nose while I was down there. Ralph's the dog. Ralph's the dog. So if you're really lucky, you get a dog nose licking at the bottom. Yes, I will do that at the end for that message. So we always finish by— there's one bell to bow to each other. If we were in the shrine room in a circle, we would turn first to one side and then to the other, and it all gets very confusing. So you can attempt that on the screen and see how that goes. Just bow to the screen, I think. You bow to each other and to the screen. They can bow to each other. Okay, sorry. And then 2 bells to bow to the Buddha. And then if you are able to I'm going to unmute again and finish by saying this little verse together. And the animals and the brewery were starting to occupy the roundabout 7 days a week. All the while, the steel frame of the new building was being erected by Amitabh and his wife.
May I care for all living things and the Holy Earth. Namaste. Thank you so much for joining us. If you want to slip away quietly now, please do.
